Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

We are having our sidewalk replaced and our driveway extended 12' to make it a two car instead of a one-car driveway. The existing driveway will remain (too much to take it out and re-pour to match).

Looking on the interwebs I see that we can stain the old driveway to better blend in with the new. The driveway is 25' x 8'. What is a good brand of stain that is easy to work with and budget friendly? We obviously want something of quality since it's driven/parked on daily.

Aside from the actual product we use, is there anything else we need to know for this DIY project?

Thanks!

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Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

what you need to know is no matter what product you use, both sections of conc will have different colors primarily due to age, texture, surface wear patterns, ambient light refraction, & original mix design,,, this is 1 of the most difficult items to do even for an experienced decorative conc artisan/stainer & acceptance of final product is often subjective,,, even i eye sees a different color than the other eye - its our brain that melds color - not our eyes.

IF anyone's 'canvas' is different in color/texture, it then follows any translucent color applied must have a different final appearance,,, fwiw, its also extremely difficult to get 2 successive loads of conc from the same plant to match color even if the same truck is used.

'can stain the old driveway to better blend' doesn't necessarily translate as possible or likely - didn't abe lincoln post that some time ago ?

there are many good products on the market today but, imo, neither an apron/vest store NOR sher-wms sells them,,, all this being said, you'll have more luck starting light then progressing to the final color goal,,, tinted sealers are helpful, too,,, we pick solvent-base'd sealer - not water,,, btw, sher-wms sells tints in small quantities & we often use their product as a source

Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

Good information, thank you! The concrete was poured earlier this afternoon and 4 hours later, it rained HARD and is still raining. I'm nervous to go to the house and see what this unexpected storm has done to our new driveway and sidewalk.

Instead of staining the old concrete anytime soon we are going to wait and see how it looks when the new stuff is cured. I pressure washed the existing driveway a few days ago and I could not believe how much dirt/mold/crap was built up on it.

Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

here's another tip - IF you want to clean the d/w, use a 3,500 4gpm pressure wshr w/turbo nozzle sized to fit it ( eBay ),,, also ' DAWN ' dish detergent - NO ACID, NO SOAPS, NO TRI-SODIUM PHOSPHATES, no palmolive - just dawn

Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

itsreallyconc, we always use Tide dry detergent when cleaning drives. Works better than Dawn.

As for the OP, if the rain ruined the concrete pour, get the crew back out there to rip it all out and repour, if they did not cover with tarps as they should have, if they knew rain was in the forecast.

Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

we've had rainstorms on fresh conc - hgwys, runways, aprons, & d/w's,,, that's why there's always 6mil plastic on the jobsite,,, otoh, if the conc's set, we've never had trouble,,, think rip & replace would be tough to get when is far less costly to o'lay the d/w

Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregzoll

itsreallyconc, we always use Tide dry detergent when cleaning drives. Works better than Dawn.

As for the OP, if the rain ruined the concrete pour, get the crew back out there to rip it all out and repour, if they did not cover with tarps as they should have, if they knew rain was in the forecast.

Hope you have not paid them yet.

The concrete was fine...they covered everything with heavy-duty plastic and it looked great this morning. I can't wait to drive on it. They hadn't uncovered the sidewalk by time I left this morning but I'll be out there in a couple hours. We are not making the final payment until after I check it out (husband doesn't have an eye for things like I do, thanks to OCD).

Driveway Addition - Staining old concrete?

Well, here's the thing. Hubs 'pressure washed' the driveway a few months ago and it still looked like crap, so I just assumed that's what we had to work with. But when I pressure washed it a lot of the gunk came off. Come to find out, when he pressure washes, he only lets the spray wash down stuff - kinda like how you'd do with a hose. When I did it, I had the tip as close to the driveway as possible and powered through the dirt and paint splatters from when we did the exterior of a the house last month.

Which explains why the windows were still dirty after he 'pressure washed' the house.